use Switch;
use XML::Simple;
...
my $xml = XMLin("file");
my $foo = $xml;           # the xml is <foo>combo</foo>
print "$foo\n";           # prints the correct value
switch ($foo) {
	case /combo/	{ print "found a combo\n"; }
}

##</code><code>##

Malformed UTF-8 character (unexpected continuation byte 0x9c, with no preceding
start byte) in bitwise and (&) at C:/Perl/lib/Switch.pm line 257.
Malformed UTF-8 character (unexpected continuation byte 0x90, with no preceding
start byte) in bitwise and (&) at C:/Perl/lib/Switch.pm line 257.
Malformed UTF-8 character (unexpected continuation byte 0x92, with no preceding
start byte) in bitwise and (&) at C:/Perl/lib/Switch.pm line 257.
Malformed UTF-8 character (unexpected continuation byte 0x9d, with no preceding
start byte) in bitwise and (&) at C:/Perl/lib/Switch.pm line 257.
Malformed UTF-8 character (unexpected continuation byte 0x90, with no preceding
start byte) in bitwise and (&) at C:/Perl/lib/Switch.pm line 257.